Aravosis Crow Pie: House Delays ENDA Vote

I wrote a few weeks back about how odd it was that George Bush's White House was being so quiet about its views on ENDA, and that it was odd that neither Bush nor his staff were even hinting at a veto. Some raised the point that formal veto threats often aren't issued until right before the vote, but still, the White House's silence struck me as odd.

Democratic leaders announced they have decided to postpone a vote in the House of Representatives this week on the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, or ENDA. The announcement came several hours after the White House issued a statement saying that senor advisers have recommended that President Bush veto the gay rights measure if Congress were to pass it.

Aravosis boasted that:

I wrote repeatedly about my inkling that ENDA could very well become law this year, in spite of the naysayers who said that Bush would definitely veto, that there was no way around his veto, and that I was either naive or a liar (in addition to being a racist, misogynist, native-American hater, bigot, rich, white, transphobe, homocentrist). Well, the religious right doesn't appear as unequivocal about that veto, and neither does the White House.

So much for the gay conservatives continued belief that President Bush will somehow stop his attacks against GLBT people and worry about his legacy.

But really, isn't worrying about the Presidential veto is a bit premature? For the life of me, I can't see how this would ever pass in the Senate. The Matthew Shepard Act passed by ONE VOTE, how could anyone in their right mind think that this bill has a snowball's chance in hell of passage?

Hopefully this smack in the face will wake up Congress and "conserva-queers" enough to join the rest of the community in passage of a United ENDA. Until then, crow pie anyone?

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Aravosis has annoyed me ever since in 2005 when he complained about his trip to the holocaust museum in D.C. (He thought there was too much text, and that it was "long and boring!") To me, this indicated a strange sort of intellectual laziness, a lack of curiosity, and a desire for the world to be oversimplified and easier to digest, as well as a profound lack of sensitivity and perspective about privilege.

Now for the real work to pass a real civil rights bill. F*ck ENDA! It's watered down pablum to begin with. If we're fighting the good fight anyway, why not fight for the same civil rights that everyone else gets, housing, public accommodation, credit, and all!!